Regional Partnership Grants Program

The Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) Program, administered by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Children’s Bureau (CB), aims to improve safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for children affected by parental substance use disorders. Since 2007, the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) has provided programmatic, data-driven assistance to RPG recipients. The program was initially authorized by the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, (P.L. 109-288) and further supported by the Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-34), which allocated funds specifically for RPGs. The Supporting America’s Children and Families Act of 2024 (P.L. 118-258) reauthorized the RPG Program, continuing the provisions of data-driven assistance to better serve families affected by substance use disorders. Since 2007, Children's Bureau has awarded seven rounds of RPG funding to 127 projects across 40 states, including tribal communities. Some outcomes as a result of program participation include:

• Child safety improved significantly (less maltreatment, abuse, and neglect)
• Children showed reduced behavior problems and better socialization; executive functioning remained stable
• Fewer removals from the home and increased permanency and reunification for children
• Substance use disorder treatment saw higher enrollment and completion and reduced high-severity substance use

NCSACW provides support to the RPG recipients on various topics to strengthen implementation of selected interventions. NCSACW support has helped recipients strengthen their efforts in cross-system collaborative practices and policies focusing on program sustainability, workforce development, trauma-informed services, family-centered treatment, and lasting and efficient systems change. RPG projects promote interagency collaboration and integration of services to enhance the well-being, permanency, and safety of children who are in, or at risk of, out-of-home placements due to parental substance use disorders. The partnerships implement a range of activities and interventions, including recovery coaching, family-centered services, parenting programs, support for fathers and pregnant and postpartum women, medications for opioid use disorder, in-home parenting support, and other evidence-based practices. RPG projects strive to enhance and expand effective services for children, parents, and families.

• Cross-systems collaborative capacity to streamline communities’ and states’ efforts to save resources
• Program sustainability to ensure outcomes generated through the grant program are integrated into practice
• Trauma-informed and evidence-based and evidence-informed services to children, parents, and family members to resolve root causes of intergenerational effects of addiction and child abuse or neglect
• Family-centered substance use and mental health disorder treatment and recovery support services to ensure all members of the families heal and reduce long-term costs to service systems and programs
• Lasting systems change to institutionalize programs and practices, resulting in reduced costs over time